I spoke to a woman the other day who told me she couldn’t be good enough to make God happy. And I told her I couldn’t either! I am happy to tell people about my failings and missteps because I don’t believe we are loved by God because we have a pretty image or façade. I also don’t believe that God is hoping we are strong enough to live the Christian life on our own. Instead, He offers His strength, wisdom, power, patience, and everything else to us in return for us to give up our efforts and our attempts to be good or to make Him happy.
I love what Paul says about rejoicing in weakness. He doesn’t say that he really likes his weakness necessarily, but rather than in his weakness, he was able to sense more deeply the power of Christ living in him. Paul saw weakness not as a disappointment to God, but rather a portal to His power! That’s a bit of a different take, isn’t it?
So often we obsess on getting it all right, whether the standard be God’s, other peoples’ or our own. Yet, God’s standard is automatically derailed when we realize He never meant for us to live in a pleasing way to Him without His power allowing us to achieve that. When we start from that point, we realize that the standard isn’t really important—it’s the relationship. Isn’t that what we want with everyone? I don’t want someone living up to my standard for them. I want relationship with them!
When we don’t beat up on our weakness, but rather see it as an avenue of bringing us to dependence once more on Christ’s power within us, we are free from the weakness! We look away from the point we feel we have failed or can’t make it through, and look straight into the eyes of Jesus. He doesn’t judge us for that, but rather gives us His hand and tells us He will be enough through it. And He won’t leave us the whole way through. The pressure is off!
Some of us also push so hard to achieve because we think we then have some strengths to stand on when it comes to the world’s measurement of success. I have a list similar to Paul’s when he talks about how much of a rule-follower, zealot and super-Jew he was. I mean, he was willing to kill Christians because that was another level of performance for him to prove how strong and committed he was. I was never a murderer, but I had a pretty good list of things I did to prove I was something. The joke was on me, though, as none of that was ever enough. The standard got higher, harder and more impossible.
Just like Paul, I can count my perceived accomplishments and pursuit of pride as poop. Instead, I don’t want to try to live a life pleasing to God in my own strength, but rather to rejoice in my weakness because it better gives me a sense of the power of God dwelling within me. I get to watch that power be enough for each weakness, trial, frustration and discouragement. What a reversal!
But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.”So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10